Image processing system, image processor and image processing program

ABSTRACT

To provide a system in which image data created in an image processor is processed in association with an application activated on a user terminal. The system includes an image processor, and a user terminal connected with the image processor over a network. The image processor includes: an activated application identifying unit for obtaining information about an application activated on the user terminal; a one-touch key generating unit for generating a one-touch key including information for processing image data by the application activated on the user terminal; and a transmission unit for transmitting the image data to the user terminal. The user terminal includes: a receiving unit for receiving the image data from the image processor; and a one-touch key processing unit for processing the image data by the application activated on the user terminal, based on the information of the one-touch key.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No.11/019,248, filed on Dec. 23, 2004, and claims priority from JapanesePatent Application No. 2004-325215, filed in Japan on Nov. 9, 2004, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an image processing system including animage processor and user terminals connected over a network, an imageprocessor, and an image processing program.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As an image processor, a multiple function peripherals (MFP), forexample, including a scanning function for loading scanned image data asan image file in addition to a printing function, has been usedrecently. Each image processor is not connected with one user terminalonly, but connected with a network. In such a case, one image processoris connected with a plurality of user terminals over a network, andimage data scanned and loaded by the image processor is transmitted to adesired user terminal.

Examples of such a device are as follows. An image processor describedin Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-46700 (PatentDocument 1) converts image information, which has been read, into a PDFfile format, and then transmits it to a personal computer designated byan operation unit. The personal computer which received the imageinformation automatically activates the Acrobat, a software, so as todisplay the image information in a PDF file format on the screen. Ascanner device described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No.2002-77504 (Patent Document 2) forms a scanned script as an attachmentfile of an e-mail. A facsimile device described in Japanese PatentLaid-open Publication No. 2003-32423 (Patent Document 3) additionallytransmits e-mail text for decoding the attached file. An e-mail systemdescribed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-324574(Patent Document 4) stores the e-mail title, text and commentcorresponding to a destination in advance, and transmits scanned imagedata to the destination as an attachment file. In a scanned mailtransmission system described in Japanese Patent Laid-open PublicationNo. 2004-88613 (Patent Document 5), a user prepares and registers, inadvance, the e-mail destination, text and subject which are to beaccessed at the time of scanning, and transmits image data as anattachment file.

However, a user must return to a user terminal after transmitting imagedata from an image processor to the user terminal of oneself, andprocess the image data on the user terminal side. For example, afterreceiving the image data, the user must prepares the text and thesubject of an e-mail on the user terminal side, and transmit thereceived image data by attaching it to the e-mail, or the user mustattach the received image data to a document which has been prepared.

Each of the aforementioned Patent Documents also has a problem similarto that described above as for the related art. For example, the imageprocessor of Patent Document 1 does not obtain information for anapplication activated on a user terminal, but only displays it on thescreen. The push-type scanner device of Patent Document 2 just transmitsimage data as an attachment file of an e-mail, so the subject and thetext of the e-mail cannot be set. The facsimile device of PatentDocument 3 only has a feature that information for decoding theattachment file is made as e-mail text, and arbitrary editing is notpossible. The e-mail system of Patent Document 4 only has a feature ofaccessing data registered in advance. The data cannot be changed asneeded. In the scanned mail transmission system of Patent Document 5,scanned mail information must be set before using the system. Further,the system only accesses the information which has been prepared beforeusing it, and the information cannot be changed as needed.

As described above, a user, after creating image data in an imageprocessor and transmitting it to a user terminal of oneself, must returnto the user terminal and process the received image data by using anapplication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a systemfor processing image data created in an image processor by associatingit with an application activated on a user terminal.

An image processing system according to the present invention comprises,an image processor, and user terminals connected with the imageprocessor over a network. The image processor includes: an activatedapplication identifying unit for obtaining information about anapplication activated on the user terminal; a one-touch key generatingunit for generating a one-touch key including information for processingimage data by the application activated on the user terminal; and atransmission unit for transmitting the image data to the user terminal.The user terminal includes: a receiving unit for receiving the imagedata from the image processor; and a one-touch key processing unit forprocessing the image data by the application activated on the userterminal, based on the information of the one-touch key.

According to the image processing system of the present invention, aone-touch key including information for processing image data, createdin the image processor, by an application activated on a user terminalis generated, and based on the information of the one-touch key, theimage data can be processed by the application activated on the userterminal. Thereby, the user can process, on the image processor side,the image data in association with the application activated on the userterminal, without returning to the user terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become readily understood from the followingdescription of preferred embodiments thereof made with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which like parts are designated by likereference numeral and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an imageprocessing system according to an embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an imageprocessor and a user terminal in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of the image processing system according to theembodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an image processing method in the imageprocessor according to the embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the details of step S03 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows a login screen in the image processor;

FIG. 7 shows a screen displaying a one-touch key on the image processor;

FIG. 8 shows an ordinary display screen in the image processor;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a method for executing a one-touch keyfunction by a resident application on the user terminal;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary e-mail prepared on the user terminal; and

FIG. 11 shows an example in which image data received from the imageprocessor is attached to the e-mail prepared on the user terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An image processing system, an image processor and an image processingprogram according to an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed by using the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,substantially same members are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an imageprocessing system including an image processor according to anembodiment 1 of the present invention. The image processing system 100includes three sites A, B and C connected with a wide area network 70such as the Internet. A LAN 21 in the site A is connected with afirewall 23, a router 22, an image processor 20, and a mail server 24. ALAN 41 in the site B is connected with a firewall 43, a router 42, auser terminal 50, and a mail server 44. A LAN 61 in the site C isconnected with a firewall 63, a router 62, a client terminal 60 which isthe destination of an e-mail, and a mail server 64. The firewalls areset to allow SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) packets, that is,e-mails, to pass through. Equipment connected with the LAN 21, 41 or 61in each site transmits and receives e-mails via the mail server 24, 44or 64 connected with the same LAN. In a case of attaching image data toan e-mail, the system complies with RFC2301 to RFC2306 and ITU-TRecommendation T.37. The mail servers 24, 44 and 64 support an SMTPextension function (RFC1891: STMP Service Extension for Delivery StatusNotifications), enhanced status codes (RFC1893: Enhanced Mail SystemStatus Codes), and MIME media type (RFC1892: The Multipart/ReportContent Type for the Reporting of Mail System Administrative Messages,RFC1894: An Extensive Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the imageprocessor 20 and the user terminal 50 in the image processing system ofFIG. 1. In addition to the image processor 20, the user terminal 50 andthe mail destination client 60, an LDAP server 80 is also included inFIG. 2. The image processor 20 includes, a CPU 1, a RAM 2, a ROM 3, auser authentication unit 4, an activated application identifying unit 5,a printing unit 6, a user terminal searching unit 7, a scanner unit 8,an image memory 9, an image processing unit 10, an operation panel 11,an e-mail preparing unit 12, a communication unit 13, and a one-touchkey generating unit 14. The image processor 20 is connected with anetwork by the communication unit 13. In FIG. 2, a plurality of networksexisting between one another are shown in a simplified manner. The imageprocessor 20 generates a one-touch key for instructing to process imagedata transmitted from the image processor 20 by an application activatedon the user terminal, as shown in FIG. 7. Based on information of theone-touch key, the image data transmitted from the image processor 20can be processed by an application activated on the user terminal 50, bya one-touch key processing software activated on the user terminal 50.Thereby, the user can perform processing in association with theapplication activated on the user terminal 50 by using the one-touch keydisplayed on the operation panel 11 of the image processor 20, withoutreturning to the user terminal 50.

The user terminal 50 includes a CPU 31, a RAM 32, a ROM 33, a userauthentication unit 34 for performing user authentication at the time oflogin, an operation unit 35, an application program activating unit 36,an application program storing unit 37, and a communication unit 40. Theapplication program storing unit 37 stores, for example, an e-mailapplication 38 and a document preparation application 39.

The LDAP server 80 notifies the image processor 20 of user terminalinformation for specifying the user terminal 50, responding to aninquiry from the image processor 20.

FIG. 3 is a time chart of the image processing system according to theembodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing animage processing method in the image processor according to theembodiment 1 of the present invention. In the image processing system, auser logs in to the user terminal 50 with an authentication by the userauthentication unit 34, activates an application, and sets conditionsfor the application, in advance, as shown in FIG. 3.

Then, the user moves from the user terminal 50 side to the imageprocessor 20 side, and directly operates the image processor 20. First,the user logs in to the image processor 20 with an authentication by theuser authentication unit 4. The subsequent image processing method inthe image processor 20 will be described by using FIG. 4.

(a) The image processor 20 displays a login screen as shown in FIG. 6and accepts a login by the user (S01).

(b) The image processor 20 obtains information about the login user ofthe image processor 20 (S02).

(c) The user terminal searching unit 7 searches for a user terminalwhich is logged in by the same user as the login user of the imageprocessor 20 (503). The detailed description of step S03 will bedescribed later in accordance with a flowchart shown in FIG. 5.

(d) The image processor 20 determines whether or not the user terminal50, which is logged in by the same user as the login user of the imageprocessor 20, exists (S04).

(e) An inquiry is made to the specified user terminal 50 (S05).

(f) The image processor 20 determines whether or not an application isactivated on the user terminal 50 (S06). Specifically, the activatedapplication identifying unit 5 obtains activated application informationfrom the user terminal 50 (S07).

(g) The activated application identifying unit 5 obtains informationabout an application activated on the user terminal 50 (S07).

(h) The image processor 20 accepts a selection of application by theuser (S08).

-   -   i) If the user selected an e-mail application 38 (S09), the        one-touch key generating unit 14 generates a one-touch key 26        for transmitting an e-mail, to which image data is attached, by        the e-mail application 38 on the user terminal 50, and displays        it (S10), as shown in FIG. 7.    -   ii) If the user selected a document preparation application 39        (S11), the one-touch key generating unit 14 generates a        one-touch key 28 for preparing a document including image data        by the document preparation application 39 on the user terminal        50, and displays it (S12), as shown in FIG. 7.

If a one-touch key cannot be generated or displayed, a screen shown inFIG. 8, for example, will be displayed.

(k) The image processor 20 confirms whether to start scanning (S13).

(l) Image data is created through scanning performed by the scanner unit8 (S14).

(m) In accordance with the one-touch key, the image data is transmittedto the user terminal 50 so as to be processed by the selectedapplication (S15).

With these steps, the image data created in the image processor 20 canbe processed by the application activated on the user terminal 50.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the details of the step S03 of searchingthe user terminal by the user terminal searching unit 7 in FIG. 4.

(a) The user terminal searching unit 7 transmits information about auser logged in to the image processor 20 to the LDAP server 80 so as tomake an inquiry to the LDAP server 80 for information about the userterminal 50 which is logged in by the same user (S21).

(b) The user terminal searching unit 7 determines whether or not theLDAP server 80 replied (S22). If the LDAP server 80 replied, the userterminal searching unit 7 moves to step S23, but if the LDAP server didnot reply, repeats step S22.

(c) The user terminal searching unit 7 searches for the user terminal 50based on the received information about the user terminal 50, andspecifies it (S23).

With these steps, the user terminal 50 which is logged in by the sameuser as the login user of the image processor 20 can be specified.

In this way, it is possible to process, on the image processor 20 side,the created image data in association with the activated application onthe user terminal 50 in accordance with information of the one-touch keygenerated on the image processor 20. Note that the image processingmethod performed on the image processor 20 side may be performed as animage processing program. Further, the image processing program on theimage processor 20 side may be stored on a recording medium readable bya computer. Thereby, it is possible to realize the aforementionedfunctions as an image processor connected with a network, by reading andexecuting the image processing program from the recording medium in thecomputer at any desired time.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the image processing method for processingimage data received from the image processor 20, on the user terminal 50side by the selected application in accordance with the information ofthe one-touch key generated on the image processor 20.

(a) The user terminal 50 checks whether a user logged in to the userterminal 50 or not (S31). If no user logged in, the user terminal 50repeats the same step S31.

(b) The user terminal 50 obtains information about the login user of theuser terminal 50 (S32). If plural users use the terminal 50, one user isspecified by the login user information.

(c) The user terminal 50 obtains information about whether or not anyapplication is activated on the user terminal 50 (S33).

(d) The user terminal 50 obtains the kind information about theapplication activated on the user terminal 50 (S34).

(e) The user terminal 50 checks whether it received an inquiry from theimage processor 20 (S35). If no inquiry has been received, it goes backto step S31.

(f) The user terminal 50 obtains login user information of the imageprocessor 20 (S36).

(g) The user terminal 50 determines whether or not the login user of theimage processor 20 and the application activation user of the userterminal 50, that is, the login user of the user terminal 50, are thesame (S37). The determination of the user identity is performed bycomparing respective pieces of login user information. If the pieces ofinformation coincide with each other, the users are determined asidentical, then moves to step S38, and if they do not coincide with eachother, the users are determined as different, and the processing ends(END).

(h) The user terminal 50 transmits activation information of theapplication and the kind information of the activated application to theimage processor 20 (S38).

(i) The user terminal 50 receives information about a one-touch keygenerated, from the image processor 20 (S39).

(j) The user terminal 50 receives image data from the image processor 20via the communication unit 40 (S40).

(k) In accordance with the information of the one-touch key, thereceived image data is processed by the selected application (S41). Amethod for processing image data by operating another application with aresident program, as described above, can be realized by a methoddescribed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.2004-110842.

For example, when an e-mail application is selected, an e-mail to whichimage data is attached is transmitted by the e-mail application 38 onthe user terminal 50, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. 10 is an exampleof an e-mail prepared on the user terminal 50. FIG. 11 is an example ofan e-mail to which image data is attached, the image data having beentransmitted from the image processor 20 by a program for performingone-touch key processing on the user terminal 50 (image processingprogram on the user terminal 50 side) based on the information of theone-touch key generated on the image processor 20. After the image datatransmitted from the image processor 20 being attached automatically tothe e-mail, the e-mail may be transmitted to the destinationautomatically, or may be transmitted according to an transmissioninstruction of the user. Although an example in which the destination,subject and text of the e-mail have been prepared on the user terminal50 side is shown here, the present invention is not limited to thisconfiguration. The destination, subject and text of the e-mail may beprepared or added by remotely operating the e-mail application 38activated on the user terminal 50 from the image processor 20.

On the other hand, if the document preparation application 39 isselected, a document including image data is prepared by the documentpreparation application 39 on the user terminal 50. In this case, theformat (frame, forms, size, paragraphs, layout, etc.) or the like of thedocument may be prepared beforehand on the user terminal 50 and then thedocument including image data is prepared. Alternatively, the documentmay be prepared by setting the format or the like of the document, byremotely operating the document preparation application 39 activated onthe user terminal 50 from the image processor 20. Further, the imagedata may be loaded as a document by performing a character recognitionwith an OCR or the like, for example.

As described above, it is possible to process, on the user terminal 50side, image data received from the image processor 20 in associationwith an application selected from the applications activated on the userterminal 50, in accordance with information of the one-touch keygenerated on the image processor 20. Note that in the image processingmethod performed on the user terminal 50 side, it is preferable that theimage processing program be executed as a resident program on the userterminal 50. However, the image processing program is not limited to theexample of the resident program. It may be activated on the userterminal 50 from the image processor 20 as needed. Further, the imageprocessing program on the user terminal may be stored on a recordingmedium readable by a computer. Thereby, it is possible to realize theaforementioned functions as the user terminal 50 connected with anetwork, by reading and executing the image processing program from therecording medium in the computer as desired.

The present invention can apply to, an image processing system in whichan image processor and user terminals are connected over a network, animage processor, and an image processing program.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with thepreferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications areapparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications areto be understood as included within the scope of the present inventionas defined by the appended claims, unless they depart therefrom.

1. A user terminal connected with a multi function peripherals,comprising: a receiving unit for receiving, from the multi functionperipherals, an image data and information of a one-touch key includinginformation for processing the image data by a software on the userterminal; and a processing unit for processing the image data by thesoftware on the user terminal based on the information of the one-touchkey.